-I've been scouring the internet for days since I remembered reading an article explaining a program some insurance companies were runing. Whereby a driver carried a device in the vehicle that reports driving behaivor, and if I remember correctly, discounts a policy in the following ways...

-Time spent under 80mph.
-Amount of time driving between the hours of 1am and 4am (considered high risk times)
-Number of miles driving
-etc.

-If anyone knows of any information about this program, it would be greatly appreciated.

Why would the insurers consider 1-4 a.m. to be high-risk? Yes, it is dark, but that's why headlights were invented. With so little traffic on the roads, your chances of a collision are minimal. (In fact, lack of traffic is one reason I prefer working midshifts and/or Sundays.)

IMHO, rush hours would be the highest-risk times.

I suspect because there's a higher incidence of drunk driving accidents during those hours. Also - if you've been up all night, you're more apt to be sleepy while driving. I know that doesn't relate to those of you working off shift, but for others....

It was supposed to be offered by Progressive, but I too haven't been able to find any info on it. I would be tempted to sign up since I already have Progressive insurance and considering I'm a hypermiler (always under 80mph) and rarely (if ever) drive between 1 and 4am, I'd probably be a real good candidate for it.

That's exactly what I was thinking AZCivic.

Thanks for the replies.

I would consider it, but I don't like big brother watching me. From what I understand, the "device" is basically a GPS tracking device. My insurance would have to go from $80 a month right now to nearly $0 ($10 would probably be the highest I would go) before I considered it.

If this practice is ever "non-optional" you can bet we will hear from the ACLU.

19,900 miles and (slowly) counting

-That's true, all the OnStar subscribers have reported small microchips implanted into the base of their necks, and shifty looking vans parked in front of their houses. Furthermore, Progressive customers that were allowed to try this program reported an increase in alien probing...

-Just kidding. But more to the point, my vehicles position on the 101W at 5 in the morning is fairly irrelevent.

-ACLU "Protecting the rights of terrorists since 9/11."

No, genius. The ACLU is protecting the rights of everybody, including you. Some people like yourself do not care about them, and terrorists abuse them, but when they are gone, look long and hard in the mirror.

R2-E2, 2G Prius.
Highway/City/Husband/Wife MPG: 56.5, as of 12/2005, 26K miles

Jac Nasser, Ford President: "We are planning to launch a hybrid version of
this car [P2000] within this year [1998]. We will also make FCEV available in
2004."

If a vehicle comes standard with Onstar, I will not consider purchasing it. GM has been putting the equivalent of a "black box" in Corvettes for some time now without notifying its customers.

19,900 miles and (slowly) counting

I'm pretty sure OnStar is standard on every GM model, it's just that you only get the first 1 month for free and then you can choose not to subscribe. The electronics and such are on all their cars. They also have a data event recorder on many of their models, just like most all other automakers that constantly record data and will save the last 10 seconds of event data upon airbag deployment. I think such things should be mandatory on all cars. It's the only way to reconstruct a lot of accidents where there's either no witnesses, or strongly conflicting reports from witnesses.